This invention relates generally to a method for distributing timely information to authorized subscribers over a publicly accessible global information network.
In the business environment, information is vital to conducting the business of the enterprise. In order to gather all of the relevant facts, numerical data and expert opinions in a particular field of business, the managers, analysts and other users of information may subscribe to, or otherwise obtain access to, a number of publications and information services in addition to internal sources of information. Examples of information to be gathered and integrated by the knowledge worker in a meaningful fashion include business and financial information on other companies or enterprises in the selected field, prices and price movements, new discoveries and methods, rules and regulations of regulatory authorities, spot information items, tabular economic data, and historical financial data.
Some subscriptions are made through xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d publication sources available to the public. For example, U.S. Government documents can be copied and distributed without concern for copyright or other authorization to use the information.
Other information comes from specialized services business news publishers, or consulting firms which gather and disseminate information to a select group of paid subscribers. Information from such xe2x80x9crestrictedxe2x80x9d publication sources often includes expert opinions and advice which is distributed to its subscribers on a highly controlled basis and is often licensed for use to business enterprises at rates depending upon the number of individual users permitted to view the information.
The business enterprise also has internal sources of data or information. Data is stored, created, and provided across the enterprise in and from a variety of technologies, schemas, and formats, and is accessed utilizing a multitude of Advanced Programming Interfaces (API). From legacy systems, to document management systems, to relational data stores, it is difficult to make the bulk of useful information accessible in ways that make sense to all users, is navigable by all users, and is centrally controllable.
The common interface for integration of external and internal data, display and navigation of information items is sometimes called an enterprise information portal (EIP).
The goals of an EIP should be to create a common, flexible infrastructure, which enables the rapid design, development, and deployment of custom navigational and display components. An enterprise information portal creates a platform upon which a multitude of business applications may provide the informational tools which knowledge workers require to research information, access daily briefings applicable to their work environment of the moment, and be notified of breaking information relevant to that environment. This information must be presented to the user in a common display and navigation environment regardless of its source.
One of the major functions of an EIP is to answer queries posed by users of the system. It is known that the various information items contained in publications from both restricted publication sources and open publication sources, as well as internal information may be gathered, edited, and stored in a relational database. Searches for information items meeting specified criteria are then conducted using Structured Query Language (SQL) which is the ISO-ANSI standard data definition language and data manipulation language for relational database systems. SQL software is produced by Oracle Corporation, Sybase Inc., Microsoft Corporation, IBM and many others.
Much has been written concerning access and searching of relational databases residing on file servers connected as part of a client/server local area network. These local file servers must be updated and maintained by the enterprise. Another type of relational database search system allows for accessing a central database over a publicly accessible global information network, such as the Internet. In most such cases, the relational database resides in a central database storage facility at a remote location. The database is updated and maintained by an information service company, which supplies information to its subscribers in a normalized and unified manner. The remote database may be queried by commands transmitted over a global information network and a response is returned over the global information network to the local client making the query. The response may comprise a series of documents transmitted over the network satisfying the query criteria and which the user is permitted to view and/or copy, generally subject to copyright restrictions. An example of such a system is that offered by the Dialog Corporation. The result of this approach is that the API and data access code clutter that in the days of client server occurred at the client, now occur at the web server. The same issues of very complex, high maintenance code that plagued client side applications in the client server model now plague web server backend code. This is due to the model where data stores are xe2x80x9cdumbxe2x80x9d, and merely respond to queries, and business intelligence resides at the client (or web server) level. Other authors have suggested the use of multiple databases at different locations which are linked together so that a user can search all databases as though they were a single database. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,906xe2x80x94Seifert issued Feb. 24, 1998. In this patent, each provider of information at the separate locations of the databases may limit access to the resource by identifying users who are authorized to obtain access to the resource. This is known as xe2x80x9centitlementxe2x80x9d. In this case, each location independently controls access, which imposes the requirement for each resource to determine and monitor right of access to the information on a continuing basis.
Other systems have been devised for determining whether the user is authorized to access the requested document. Once such entitlement system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,780 issued Jan. 13, 1998 to Levergood et al. This system involves an authorization indicator imbedded in a session identifier indicating that the user has purchased the subscription in advance. This approach on a document-by-document basis for every session becomes a cumbersome process when multiple documents, multiple queries and multiple users are involved.
Ideally, a client user wishes to query a database which is updated so as to contain the latest information available from each of the publication sources to which the user subscribes. Various publishers update their publications at different times and at different frequencies. It is difficult for an individual subscriber to multiple publications to continuously update a multiple source database to delete obsolete information and incorporate new information. This is best done in a centralized location under control of a disciplined group of information specialists. On the other hand, it is undesirable to transmit entire documents to respond to queries, when most of the information in the document is largely historical and has only been updated to add a small increment of new information. In this case, it would be desirable for the user to have access to a local or in-house file server containing the relational database which has been updated in a timely manner with authorized documents.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved method for distributing timely information to authorized subscribers of publications over a publicly accessible global information network.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method for distributing update information over a global information network to update subscriber databases.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved method for sending new information items only to authorized subscribers of restricted publications.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved method for categorizing, editing and storing new information items into a central database providing for subsequent identification of undistributed information items.
The invention comprises a method for distributing timely information in an information distribution system comprising a group of restricted publication sources, a group of authorized subscribers to the publications, an information management enterprise (IME) having an information processing, storage and distribution control center, and a publicly accessible global information network accessible to all of the parties.
The restricted publication sources disseminate publications, each containing at least one information item, which are ultimately destined to reach a list of subscribers who are authorized to receive the publications. The publications are received by, processed in and distributed through an information processing, storage and distribution control center (IPSDCC) of the information management enterprise. The IPSDCC has a computer with relational database storage means for storing a content database, a log entry database, and an entitlement database. Facilities of the IME also include a network distribution server. The authorized subscribers each have access to computer local area networks including a local server with SQL software adapted to answer subscriber queries from an updatable relational database residing on the local server.
Briefly stated, the method comprises the steps of receiving and storing a list of authorized subscribers for each said restricted source in the entitlement database; receiving the publications periodically transmitted by said restricted sources to the IPSDCC; categorizing, editing and storing information items from the publications in said content database; creating and storing a log entry in the log entry database for each said information item having codes assigned to the log entry indicating date of the data item, publication in which the information item appeared, location of the information item in the content database, and whether the information item has been distributed; periodically accessing the log entry database and retrieving corresponding new and undistributed information items; selecting network subscribers authorized to receive the new and undistributed information items from the list of authorized network subscribers in the entitlement database; preparing file transfer packages of both new and undistributed information items for said selected subscribers; distributing the new and undistributed information items by placing the file transfer packages on the network distribution server for access by the subscribers, so as to allow the authorized subscribers to update their updatable relational databases of their local servers over the global information network; and altering the log entries for the new information items to indicate that they were distributed.
In its preferred form, the categorizing, editing and storing step (c) includes the substeps of automatically separating said information items received by the IPSDCC into first information items comprising timely textual views items, second information items comprising structured numerical data and third information items requiring extensive editing or programming. The first information items are stored and distributed automatically.
The method further includes collection of additional publications and storage of additional information items from open publication sources and incorporating them into the process. The method further includes the steps of providing a series of contractual agreements governing entitlement and usage of the restricted information items.